FRONTIERS OF ZOOLOGYDale A. Drinnon has been a researcher in the field of Cryptozoology for the past 30+ years and has corresponded with Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. He has a degree in Anthropology from Indiana University and is a freelance artist and writer. Motto: "I would rather be right and entirely alone than wrong in the company with all the rest of the world"--Ambroise Pare', "the father of modern surgery", in his refutation of fake unicorn horns.

Sunday, 30 June 2013

In the past, people have been making a lot of absurd claims as to what was being see in the Northwest coast area and being called "Cadborosaurus (It seems that historically it was called "Old Reliable" in earlier periods)
The original idea was that it was a long noodle that swam above-and-below the surface in "Loops" and several of the reports actually stated that as if it were a fact. This is actually physically impossible for anything with an anatomy more substantial than a swimming pool inflatable float, it would have to have more of the body underwater. Together with this, the traditional image of the Classical-age Hippocampus influenced the ideas about Sea-serpent and "Water Horse" sightings on both the Eastern and Western coasts of North America. Heuvelmans' Merhorse can be taken as basically a transcription of the Hippocampus into an attempted Scientific description.

The "Cadborosaurus" image (Together with its inland analogue, Ogopogo) was a recognition that a significant number of sightings featured hair-covered creatures that had horselike or camel-like heads, obviously ungulate-type heads with large round nostrils at the end of the blunt snout and a distinctly overhanging upper lip. Other frequently-observed features included floppy ears, beards or bells, manes and short horns, actually the beginning growth of antlers. The eyes were placed in a prominent horselike position at the top of the head, with the bony sockets and skull structure indicated. These are moose heads and the resemblance to moose heads is undeniable (Dick Raynor has told me he was the one that initially made the Cadborosaurus-Moose comparison below, but I had got it initially from the Cryptomundo site several years ago)

There is little doubt that this entire series of Water Horse sightings has so polluted the public's ideas about "Cadborosaurus" that these reports are usually factored into any composites which are made. Clearly this is a self-evident mistake and all such reports are to be removed from the bulk of the reports in any attempt to see what the "Real" Cadborosaurus reports are like.

Above is a drawing composite of various "Cadborosaurus" witness' drawings made for comparison and posted by Cameron McCormack on the "Lord Geekington" blog: below is my amended version posted on this blog earlier, indicating which reports I thought were swimming moose and which ones were plausible Long Necked Sea Serpent Reports (With the Naden Harbour corpse, a pipefish and a couple of probable Elephant seals also thrown in there for good measure)

This boils down to a series of Plesiosaur-shaped creature reports
That are mostly comparable to each other and shown in the composite below.Above are the insets showing a slightly elaborated Swimming Moose report and the 1933 Kemp report from the Chatham Islands (One of the defining Plesiosaur-shaped reports) at center and again at right, the inset showing the presumed appearance of "Cadborosaurus willsi" in life. The Plesiosaur-shaped drawings are all headed in the same direction even if they are drawn slightly disproportionate to each other (I am not certain about the largest head shown here but Im leaving it in because its about the right shape we see elsewhere)

Here is a larger view of the Kemp sighting: Head+neck, body, and tail are approximate thirds of the total length each. It is important to note that the "Mane" in such creatures is definitely the forwatd part of the "Row of spines" further down the back. I take it that the crest is fleshy and not actually composed of either spines or hairs: it is commonly called a "Fin". I believe the fleshy growth comes out in the mating season and is used in mating contests, and that the longer strips of "mane" material on the neck there to be pulled out in ritual combats between the males, providing a nonlethal way for the males to confront each other. The mane is possibly shed or absorbed off-season. Maned individuals are larger (by perhaps another quarter in the length) and have richer coloring with more contrast between the lighter and darker sections of the skin. Like Costello, I support the notion that some males have a ring around the eye, making the eye appear lighter. The females are a duller grey, grey-brown or brown, but the males are a brighter reddish brown or (less commonly) greenish or olive colour" the mane and/or spines on the back are the same colour as the rest of the back. In the off-season (winter) it does seem that male "Cadborosaurus" have a more muted coloration and in general tend to resemble the females more, although they still remain larger. Swimming moose have much the same appearance year-round except when males have the full growth of antlers, and some of the inland Water Horse/Swimming moose reports DO include the moose antlers.

Some of the sightings mention the "Mane" seems to move as if it was all piece and one continuous length like a fin, and the most common comparison is that it looks like seaweed (usually kelp)

All in all the Plesiosaur-shaped creature reports are in good agreement with the composites made by Oudemans, Dinsdale, Sanderson and myself (each independently) especially in the head and neck (Once again it is confirmed that Oudemans allowed too much length for the tail, although some "Cadborosaurs" do seem to have much longer tails than others) The "Cadborosaurus" reconstruction is completely inadequate to account for a very long neck, a very bulky body or a very small head in combination with either a very long neck or a very bulky body.

NOTE: in his criticism of my identification of some of these reports as swimming moose, Jay Cooney said that moose do not occur in the Vancouver area. In this he was wrong because my range-maps show that it DOES occur in that area, one of the few parts of British Columbia where the moose range goes down to the coast, and they could very easily be seen swimming in the Georgia Straits adjoining, and around the various smaller islands along that coastline.

The following information is from George Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures, 2002:

Caddy
Sea Monster of t he coast of British Columbia,
Canada.
Etymology: Name popularized if not coined
October 11, 1933, by Victoria (B.C.) Daily Times
edit or Archie H. Wills after repeated sightings in
Cadboro Bay, British Columbia. Short form of
Cadborosaurus, coined at the same time.
Variant names: Amy, Cadborosaurus, Edizgiganteus (after Ediz Hook Light , Washington),
Haietluk, Klamahsosaurus (on Texada Island),
Penda (after Pender Island).
Scientific name: Cadborosaurus willsi, proposed
by Edwar d L. Bousfield and Paul H.
LeBlond in 1995.
Physical description: Serpentine body that
forms many humps or loops. Length, 16–100
feet . Diameter , 2 feet 6 inches–8 feet . Light
brown to black. Small head resembles a sheep,
horse, giraffe, or camel. Eyes in the front of the
head. Small ears or horns. Pointed tongue. Two
rows of fishlike teeth. Mane or fur sometimes reported. Neck is 3–12 feet long, about as thick as
an arm. One pair of front flippers. Back sometimes appear s serrated, sometimes smooth. Flat
tail is snake-like, fluked or formed from fused back flippers.
Behavior: Does not appear to undulate when
it swims. Fast swimming speed, clocked at 40
knot s. Breathes in short pants. Makes whalelike
grunt s and hisses. Feeds on herring, salmon, and
ducks.
Distribution: British Columbia seacoast , especially
around Cadboro Bay and the Strait of
Georgia.
Significant sightings: A crew member of t he
ship Columbia under American fur trader Capt .
Robert Gray was the first to report a Caddy
sighting in 1791.
Osmond Fergusson watched a 25-foot animal
wit h a long neck near t he Queen Charlotte Islands,
British Columbia, on June 26, 1897.
In September 1905 or 1906, Philip H. Welch
saw a brown animal with a 6- to 8-foot neck
from a distance of 100 yards away in Johnstone
Strait . It had two bumps on its head that were 5
inches high and rounded on top.
F. W. Kemp and his wife and son watched an
80-foot maned animal while they were sitting
on the Chatham Island beach, British Columbia,
on August 10, 1932.
On Sept ember 23, 1933, Dorothea Hooper
and a neighbor observed a serpentine animal
with a serrated back cavorting in Cadboro Bay
about 400 yards distant. It created a commotion
in the water as it swam out to sea.
Maj. W. H. Langley and his wife were sailing
in Haro Strait on October 1, 1933, when they
heard a loud grunt off Chatham Island. They
saw the back of a huge, dark-green creature with
serrated markings on the top and sides.
Charles F. Eagles sketched a 60-foot animal
that he saw in Oak Bay on October 14, 1933. It
had crocodile-like spines on it s neck.
On December 3, 1933, Justice of the Peace
G. F. Parkyn of Bedwell Harbour was one of
twelve people watching from Pender Island as
an animal with a large, horselike head and neck
gulped down a duck that had just been shot by
Cyril Andrews.
In 1936, E. J. Stephenson and his wife and
son watched a yellow-and-bluish, 90-foot -long,
3-foot -thick animal crawling over a reef into a
lagoon on Saturna Island.
A 10- t o 12-foot carcass of apparently a
young Caddy was removed from the stomach of
a sperm whale, photographed, and displayed for
a while at Naden Harbour whaling station in
1937. The photo shows it stretched out on
packing cases. It was about 10 feet long, wit h a
camel-like head, traces of flippers, and a paddling
tail. The carcass was allegedly shipped off
to t he Field Museum in Chicago, but there is no
record of it s arrival.
A Canadian naval officer was fishing in an
open boat off Esquimalt Harbour in November
1950 when a 30-foot Caddy appeared and created a heavy wash. It swam with an undulating
motion using large flipper s on either side. It
snapped its teeth together once before it dived
after twenty-five seconds.
On Februar y 12, 1953, R. D. Cockburn, C.
P. Crawford, and Ron Loach saw an animal
with three humps off Qualicum Beach for five
minutes. Two other men got into a boat and
rowed within 20 feet , but it submerged and
reappeared 100 yards away. It s head was dogshaped
and had two horns.
In late November 1959, David Miller and Alfred Webb came within 30 feet of an animal
with a 10-foot neck sticking straight up out of
the water off Discovery Island. It had coarse
brown fur , red eyes, and small ears.[The closeness to the creature and its size seem to be exaggerated, since this otherwise sounds very much like another swimming moose report, including the ears]
A 16-inch-long juvenile Caddy was caught in
a net by William Hagelund in 1968 off De
Courcy Island, but it was thrown back. It had
spiny teeth, a saw-toothed ridge of plates along
its backbone, and a bilobate tail. A soft , yellow
fuzz covered it s under sides.[this is almost certainly a fish]
Mechanical engineer Jim M. Thompson was
fishing off Spanish Banks, Vancouver , in January 1984 when an 18- to 22-foot serpentine animal
surfaced about 100 feet away. It had a giraffelike
head with small stubby horns and
floppy ears.
In May 1992, music professor John Celona
saw a multihumped animal about 25 feet long
while sailing.
Student s Damian Grant and Ryan Green
were swimming across Telegraph Bay in May
1994 when they saw a 20-foot animal with two
humps.
Possible explanations:
(1) The Nor thern sea lion (Eumetopias
jubatus) can appear serpentine in the water
but only grows to about 10 feet 6 inches
long.
(2) The Northern elephant seal (Mirounga
angustirostris) is found in British Columbian
waters in the nonbreeding season, but it
only measures up to [20] feet long and does
not have an elongated neck.
(3) A surviving basilosaurid type of archaic
whale, suggested by Roy Mackal and Karl
Shuker . Some basilosaur ids were serpentine,
grew up t o 80 feet long, and lived in the
Late Eocene, about 42 million years ago.
They had a tail fluke, but it’s unknown
whether it was used primarily for propulsion
or steering. They are mainly known from
t he eastern United States and Egypt but
may have been worldwide in distribution.
(4) An evolved plesiosaur , suggested by
Edward Bousfield and Paul LeBlond. This
gr oup of long-necked marine reptiles swam
with paddlelike limbs and had a body
length that varied from 6 t o 46 feet .
Plesiosaur fossils are found continuously
from t he Middle Triassic, 238 million year s
ago, to the Late Cretaceous, 65 million
years ago.[With some fossils reported as PostCretaceous]
(5) A decaying Basking shark (Cetorhinus
maximus) might account for the 1937
Naden Harbour carcass. These sharks take
on a remarkably plesiosaur -like appearance
due to the differential decomposit ion r at es
of t heir gill slit s and lower t ail fluke. A 30-
foot carcass found in November 1934 by
Hugo Sandstrom on Henry Island t urned
out t o be a Basking shark.
(6) Some kind of decapod (crayfish or
lobster ) has been suggested by Aaron Bauer
and Anthony Russell as an explanation for
Hagelund’s juvenile Caddy capture in 1968.

Merhorse
A category of Sea Monster identified by
Bernard Heuvelmans.
Scientific name: Halshippus olaimagni, given
by Heuvelmans in 1965.
Variant names: Hippokampos, Maner.
Physical description: Elongated, with smooth,
shiny skin. Length, 15–100 feet, though rarely
exceeding 60 feet. Dark-brown or steel-gray to
black in northern regions; mahogany in warmer
regions. Skin is smooth and shiny, possibly with
short fur. Wide, flat, diamond-shaped head [from in front], described
as similar to that of a horse, camel,
snake, or dog. Head, 3 feet long. Wide mouth,
perhaps edged with light-colored lips. Has
whiskery bristles like a mustache. Enormous,
forward-pointing, black eyes. Slender neck, 10
feet long or more. Often, a long, flowing, reddish[?]
mane hangs down its neck. Jagged crest on
the back. Pair of frontal flippers. Possibly a hind
pair of flippers that form a false tail; alternatively,
a fanlike tail[, flattened flail-like or snakelike tail.]
Behavior: Swims with pronounced vertical
undulations. Rapid speed. Hisses. Feeds on
fishes and possibly giant squid.[The large gap in prey size between small fishes and giant squids makes this unlikely]
Habitat: Semiabyssal depths of 50–100 fathoms
in the daytime, coming to the surface at
night. Frequents coastal areas in temperate regions
and moves further out on the continental
shelf in warmer zones.
Distribution: Nearly cosmopolitan, except for
polar seas and the Indian Ocean. At various
times, it has been seen regularly off New England
and Nova Scotia, the British Isles, Norway
(especially Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag
Counties), British Columbia and
southeastern Alaska, Portugal and the Canary
Islands, southern California, La Plata in Argentina,
the coast of South Africa, and in the
Coral Sea.
Significant sightings: A description of this type
of animal was first published in 1554 by the
Scandinavian archbishop Olaus Magnus, who
wrote that it was frequently seen in the fjords
around Bergen, Norway. He mentioned the visible
mane, large eyes, and elevated head and
neck as prominent features.
In the spring of 1835, Captain Shibbles of the
brig Mangehan reported an animal with large
eyes and a long, maned neck 10 miles off
Provincetown, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1846, James Wilson and
James Boehner were in a schooner near the
western shore of St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia,
Canada, when they saw a 70-foot animal
with a barrel-sized head and a mane. George
Dauphiney spotted a similar animal near Hackett’s
Cove about the same time.
Officers and passengers of the British mailpacket
Athenian observed a 100-foot, darkbrown
sea serpent between the Canary and
Cape Verde Islands in the North Atlantic on
May 6, 1863. Its head and tail were out of the
water, and it had something like a mane or seaweed
on its head.
A “sea-giraffe” was observed by the crew of
the steamer Corinthian east of Newfoundland,
Canada, on August 30, 1913. It first appeared as
a large head with finlike ears and huge blue eyes,
followed by a 20-foot neck. It appeared attached
to a large, seal-like body with four fins colored
light brownish-yellow with darker spots.
Sports fisherman Ralph Bandini saw a maned [or finned]
animal about a mile west of Mosquito Harbor
on San Clemente Island, California, in September
1920. Its neck was 5–6 feet thick, and the
eyes were 12 inches in diameter.[The much larger dimensions suggest this is not the same]
Around 1938, some 100 yards off the coast of
Skeffling, East Riding of Yorkshire, England,
Joan Borgeest watched a huge, green creature
with a flat head, protruding eyes, and a long
mouth that opened and closed. When she called
out to other people in the area, it dived and did
not reappear.
George W. Saggers watched a head and neck
with huge black eyes off Ucluelet, Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, Canada, in November
1947. Its dark-brown mane looked like a bundle
of warts.

Dan Baker has created this bust of a young Bigfoot from the Midwestern US (Dan is from Ohio) and the bust is nicknamed Buster. Two things about this bust stand out and I think they are important: Number one, the eyes are very large relative to the face and head and Number Two, the irises are red (reddish brown), which is mentioned by some witnesses and is specifically different than eyeglow.

Some older posts on this blog that discuss these peculiarities of the eyes

Today the CFZ blog ran a couple of illustrations on the Soay beast, evidently featured in Glen Vaudrey's new book, Since we have discussed the matter here before I thought I'd run the illustrations here also

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Fantastic version as run in newspapers

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Original Witness' sketches

Off the Isle of Soay in 1959, two Scotsmen were to see a creature in the sea that they had never encountered before. Tex Geddes and James Gavin were fishing for mackerel together in fine weather, and had already seen killer whales and basking sharks when Gavin noticed another black shape in the water some distance away.

Geddes described the encounter:

"When the object appeared to be steaming towards us, we both stood up for a better view. I can't remember exactly how close it was when I heard the breathing, but I could certainly hear it before I could definitely have said that the object was alive. It was not making much speed, maybe 3 or 4 knots. I am afraid we both started in amazement as the object came towards us, for this beast steaming slowly in our direction was like some hellish monster of prehistoric times.

The head was definitely reptilian, about 2 1/2 feet high with large protruding eyes. There were no visible nasal organs but a large red gash of a mouth which seemed to cut the head in half and which appeared to have distinct lips. There was at least 2ft of clear water behind the neck. I would say we saw 8-10ft of back on the water line.

The head appeared rather blunt and darker than the rest of the body which seemed to be scaly and the top of its back was surmounted by an immense sawtoothed ridge. It seemed to breathe through its mouth , which opened and shut with great regularity, and once when it turned towards us I could see into its cavernous red maw. I saw no teeth."

To these two men - neither of whom was a stranger to the seas or their wildlife - the beast was beyond their knowledge. Bernard Heuvelmans makes this sighting out to be one of the defining examples of his category Father of All The Turtles but later he suggests it could have been a small Merhorse (Because of the spiny crest on the back) Tim Dinsdale remarked that several of the described features also turned up in Loch Ness Monster reports, including the wide mouth regularly opening and closing with a loud breathing noise and showing a distinctly red interior.

Saturday, 29 June 2013

My Facebook Friend Mark Parra just sent notice of one of his Bigfoot photos .Mark Parra: Here is the baby from the plum creek expedition..a totally different style of look, a more classic neanderthal man look with the typical heavy brow ridge features versus the wild looking darker cave dwellers in castlerock (Colorado)..a more classic look prevails it seems in this group.

Kim Bradbury Semmelis it's back to you? cause it looks like several faces look out from the nest? but a smaller one with it's back facing the camera?

Mark ParraOf course Dale..you know I aint shy, I can take the heat and always have the video to accompany the stills...;) (Mark is taking full credit)Dale DrinnonAnd yes Id say you have an obvious clear photo of a little family group there

Mark did check back later and he says all of the dark objects in the center of the photo were gone when he returned and so they were not stumps or anything. In this case one thing that is interesting is that the smaller one in the foreground is clearly separated from two larger ones nearest to it by a branch that is lying horizontally between them. The photo is blurry because of the distance and the enlargement involved, and there is also tall grass between the camera and the dark targets. So it looks like we do have a family portrait of a bunch of Neanderthaloid Bigfoots here, which is unfortunately blurry like so many others. Id like to add that it is purely a problem in focusing and reproduction that makes these photos blurry, and nothing unusual or supernatural about the creatures. They are naturally fuzzy, that's all. The camera has problems with dealing with that, along with an unknown range and undefined reflectivity. Most digital cameras these days cannot deal with finding the focus on a Bigfoot with a fuzzy surface at an indefinite distance.

"Hagan Mystery Creature by Thomas Finley 2013. This painting is a reconstruction of a mysterious carcass found washed ashore off Southern California 34 years ago. The witness Julie Turtle Hagan described the the creature as being 10 feet long, a bulky body like that of a Walrus with the unusual appearance of a Platypus. The aquatic mystery mammal also had a blow hole like that of whales & dolphins. Authorities from a local Sea Life Center removed the carcass never to be seen of again or identified.It is a true oddity. Julie only mentioned the skin was dark brown and leathery "Like" a walrus not a Walrus. Over all appearance was Dolphin like with a blow hole. You are welcome to use it Dale.Thomas Finley"

UPDATE:
After making some remarks about the anatomy which had a bearing on the identity, Thomas, Jay Cooney and myself were provided with more information. The description had come by way of Julie Hagan. Ms. Hagan described the unidentifiable carcass as being that of an aquatic mammal which had a body that was comparable in its bulkiness to that of an elephant seal. According to Ms. Hagan, the color of the skin was leathery and dark brown like that of a walrus, but was much darker and had little wiry hair. The animal reportedly had a blowhole and a flat tail like a dolphin. However, the carcass also had several unique features such as a large bite mark on its side, two sets of (the hind flippers were firm and not vestigial), and a head which was described as having a flat, leathery "bill" like that of a platypus. Other than the large wound on its side, the carcass was fully intact and Ms. Hagan feels that it had recently washed ashore. Julie was able to measure the carcass and estimated that its body was ten feet long, approximately four feet high, and possibly 3.5 feet wide.

This is almost certainly a primitive cetacean of some sort. What struck Jay Cooney and myself was the possibility this could be another "Gambo" (certain features in the description contradict the description in Gambo's case, but there might have been mistakes made in observation or in transmission) and Thomas Finley graciously provided us with a revised reconstruction.

SECOND UPDATE: SUNDAY MORNING:
"My good friend Jay Michael Cooney will be presenting a in depth article on Julie Turtle Hagan's eyewitness account of this aquatic mystery creature. It is a great achievement for me as it is rare I get to paint a reconstruction with the assistance of not only the witnesses fine details but also the help from others Jay and Dale Drinnon included to help identify the species and morphology of the animal on the drawing board. Thank you everyone this is a great example of teamwork and its many challenges along the way to find answers we seek.
Thomas Finley"

I note with interest the fact that the mouth is now more definitely that of a beaked whale. Since Jay Cooney's interview will contain new information I am not privy to, this shall also be interesting to see his version of the article.

Possible fourth species of Killer whale identified

25/06/2013 15:26:49

Three different Antarctic killer whales: Top - Type A; Middle - Type B; Bottom - Type C were recognised in 2010, and now a 4th, Type D, has been identified (as designated by Pitman and Ensor, J. Cetacean Research and Management.

New technology supports evidence of multiple speciesJune 2013. In April 2010, scientists reported finding strong genetic evidence supporting the theory that there are at least three species of killer whales (Orca) in the world's oceans. New evidence suggests that a fourth species, type D, has been identified.

Type DThe first possible sighting of the new ‘Type D' was in 1955 when a pod of unusual-looking orca stranded on a beach in New Zealand. Recent photographs of similar orca from the southern Indian Ocean reveal that they have a very small white eye-patch and bulbous forehead. Analysis of a skeleton from the 1955 stranding, now in a museum in Wellington, indicates that ‘Type D' is highly divergent from all previously genetically sequenced killer whale forms. The estimated divergence was as long ago as 390,000 years, the second oldest split within the killer whale phylogeny.Very different behaviour patternsScientists have suspected for some time that there was more than one species of killer whales because of differences in behaviour, feeding preferences and subtle physical features.

The following killer whales were recognised as separate species in 2010:

Type-B "pack ice killer whale" from the Antarctic. Note the large eye-patch and two-tone gray color pattern. This type specializes in hunting seals, which are often on the ice and need to be knocked off the ice by the whales before they can be caught.

Photo Credit: Bob Pitman, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Type-C "Ross Sea killer whale" from the Antarctic. Note the narrow angled eye patch. These are the smallest of the 3 Antarctic types and they eat fish that are found primarily under the ice pack, so they follow leads deep into the ice as it breaks up in the summer months.
Photo Credit: Bob Pitman, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Type-A killer whale from the Antarctic. Note the striking black and white colour pattern. This type is found in open water areas and feeds primarily on other cetaceans (whales and dolphins).
Photo Credit: John Durban, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

NE Pacific Transient killer whale in Alaska. Note the typical black and white colour pattern and eye-patch, similar to Antarctic Type A killer whales (left), but genetically distinct. The Transients are known to feed on all types of marine mammals, including other whales, dolphins, and seals and sea lions.
Photo Credit: Dave Ellifrit, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center

139 killer whale samples analyzed - Several species identifiedIn all, tissue samples from 139 killer whales were analyzed. Samples came from killer whales found in the North Pacific, the North Atlantic and oceans surrounding Antarctica. As a result of the study, two types of killer whales in the Antarctic that eat fish and seals, respectively, are suggested as separate species, along with mammal-eating "transient" killer whales in the North Pacific. Several other types of killer whales may also be separate species or subspecies, but additional analysis is required.
These findings also highlight the value of natural history museum collections and new technologies to investigate the taxonomy of rare, cryptic or difficult to access species.
Read more information in the journal Polar Biology

Curupi
The stories that it wrapped its penis around the waist is more likely to be a reference to a be a rawhide belt or a
loinclolth including an animal tail hanging at the back (Or wound around theneck it seems)

The standard Curupiri is of less than usual human height, but stocky build,

and the facial features are strongly Neanderthaloid .

Caapura

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curuoira
The Creature is associated with wild pigs: more likely they like to steal the piglets to eat
"Feet turned in backward" is a common story told about the wildmen generally worldwide.

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Curupira

The myths of many lands including Peru describe the creatures as like satyrs in their lustful habits

curupi

The name alternatively is supposed to mean "Wooly Leg"

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mohan

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Mohan_pijao

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pombero

Pombero (Dwendi Version, Poss=Mono Grande?)

Maricoxi meet Fawcett

The Caa Pora of Gustavo Desimone Obviously intended to represent the orangutan sort of Mapinguary (Mono Rey). The eyes on stalks are the artist's personal embellishment, since the creature otherwise does not seem to have a regular head

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Alternative classification scheme. The big one in back should be more human-like and is the same as the 'Patagonian Giants'

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Some of the sources on the Dragon of Ishtar Gate, including Willey Ley, quote from the apochyrphal book of Bel and the Dragon (included in some translations of the Bible) indicated that the Babylonian priests were keeping a living animal in their temple compounds and infer that since this is the same as the Sirrush or Dragon of Ishtar Gate, the ancestors of those priests must have brought a young Congo Dragon with them when they returned from an expedition to Central Africa. Here is the text that this idea is based on.

And there was a great dragon in that
place, and the Babylonians worshipped him. and the king said to Daniel: Behold
thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him therefore. And
Daniel said: I adore the Lord my God: for He is the living God: but that is no
living god. But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword
or club. And the king said: I give thee leave. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat,
and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the
dragon's mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you
worshipped.

When the New Testament spoke of the Fall Of Babylon, they spoke of the ruins as being the habitation of dragons, supposedly the same kinds of dragons. The word is often said to be a misreporting of a similar-looking word meaning "Jackals" and indeed the dragon-like creature is comically shown with some doggy characteristics, including the pointed ears, furry body and paw-shaped feet. However a jackal would have been familiar in the area and the priests would never have used one to try and awe the local yokels, the creature in question must have been in some way dragon-like and fearsome looking enough to impress the visitors to the shrine.On the other hand, Eberhart's Mysterious Creatures has this entry early on in its listing:

Afa

Unknown LIZARD of the Middle East.

Etymology: Madan (Marsh Arab) word.

Physical description: Large lizard.

Distribution: Marshes at the mouth of the

Tigris River, Iraq.

Possible explanation: An undescribed species

of Monitor lizard (Family Varanidae), large carnivorous

reptiles that live in tropical areas.

Source: Wilfred Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs

(New York: Dutton, 1964), p. 115.

And that would be the same as the Persian Dragon (Sometimes called Adhi or Azhi; Ahi being a dragon name used in legends pertaining to the former Indus River in ancient times)

Azhi, big enough to attack, kill and eat deer.

Water Monitor Lizard, the reasonable identity for the Afa
The large Komodo dragon lizard (Similar in appearance)
is indeed large enough to hunt, kill and eat deer

The Travels of
Marco Polo in China date to the early 1290s. He was the first Western traveler
to write about the various provinces of Burma (Mien) in what is present-day
China. Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 and his famous journals started
circulating in Europe by 1298.

The following was translated by W.
Marsden in 1818 and re-edited by Thomas Wright in 1854. A complete copy of this
translation of “The Travels of Marco Polo, The Venetian” is housed at the
British Library.

QUOTE

Chapter XLOf the Province named
Karazan

Leaving the city of Yachi, and traveling ten days into a
westerly direction, you reach the Province of Karazan which is also the name of
its chief city…Here are seen huge serpents, ten paces in length (30 feet?), and ten spans
in the girt of the body (making them a little under 30 inches thick-actually about 27 inches). At the fore-part, near the head, they have two short
legs, having three claws like those of a tiger, with eyes larger than a
fourpenny loaf (pane da quattro denari) and very glaring. The jaws are wide
enough to swallow a man, the teeth are large and sharp, and their whole
appearance is so formidable, that neither man, nor any kind of animal, can
approach them without terror. Others are met with of a smaller size, being
eight, six, or five paces long (15 to 24 feet long); and the following method is used for taking
them. In the day-time, by reason of the great heat, they lurk in caverns, from
whence, at night, they issue to seek their food, and whatever beast they meet
with and can lay hold of, whether tiger, wolf, or any other, they devour; after
which they drag themselves towards some lake, spring of water, or river, in
order to drink. By their motion in this way along the shore, and their vast
weight, they make a deep impression, as if a heavy beam had been drawn along the
sands.

Those whose employment it is to hunt them observe the track by
which they are most frequently accustomed to go, and fix into the ground several
pieces of wood, armed with sharp iron spikes, which they cover with the sand in
such a manner as not to be perceptible. When therefore the animals make their
way towards the places they usually haunt, they are wounded by these
instruments, and speedily killed. The crows, as soon as they perceive them to be
dead, set up their scream; and this serves as a signal to the hunters, who
advance to the spot, and proceed to separate the skin from the flesh, taking
care immediately to secure the gall, which is most highly esteemed in medicine.
In cases of the bite of a mad dog, a pennyweight of it, dissolved in wine, is
administered. It is also useful in accelerating parturition, when the labour
pains of women have come on. A small quantity of it being applied to carbuncles,
pustules, or other eruptions on the body, they are presently dispersed; and it
is efficacious in many other complaints. The flesh also of the animal is sold at
a dear rate, being thought to have a higher flavour than other kinds of meat,
and by all persons it is' esteemed a delicacy.

Many people have thought to link Marco Polo's dragons (allegedly up to 30 feet long but more ordinatrily half of that) to the Tatzelwurm and "Worm" dragons (Ivan Sanderson's "Great Orms") because only the front pair of feet are mentioned. However I should hasten to point out, all that is mentioned is the fact that there are short feet near the head...Marco Polo does NOT say there were not any hind legs, he merely does not mention them. So I think that this is the same type of dragons as they had in Iran and Iraq, but in a more remote and inaccessible region. Since this seems to be the same as the Buru, which is said to reach a length of 15 feet,and the same sorts of creatures as the Buru are rarely reported in Tibet, which is geographically in between the areas inhabited by Marco Polo's dragons and the regular Burus of Bhutan, Assam and Burma, this does make some sense.

Sussex "Dragon" in 1614, more likely another stray Master-Otter caught out on land. The fur would be depicted as the checkerboard pattern and it has the characteristic sharp pointed snout and pricked ears of the type. The creature looks to be between 12 and 15 feet long, large but still of a size commonly attributed to the type.

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

This is an email exchange we had going concerning several photos that I had submitted to me by a reader

Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2013 5:07 AMSubject: Loch Ness Monster photos
I was going to run these photos on my blog but I'd like to get some opinions about them first. These are the best three out of a batch lot I had sent to me with no background information given.

That first one is the Jennifer Bruce photo from 1982. I recognize it easily. Adrian Shine has tried to dismiss it as a flying seagull shot at an unusual angle but I don't buy that. It looks a hell of a lot like the surgeon's photo. No one has ever suggested it was a deliberate hoax.The other two, I don't recognize. I would suggest showing them to Gina. She might recognize them.

I shall add more details as I receive them. I should mention that I don't read the white outline in the bottom photo as correctly depicting the smaller object in the corresponding larger photo, the flipper and tail portions look like different lengths to me. Still its close enough not to complain about it yet. Best Wishes, Dale D.Addendum: July 26

Scott Mardis sends the information: 3:30pm

Gina says one of those Nessie photos is a George Edwards picture, at least shot form his boat.

1998, the one that shows Urquart castle in the background

Dale Drinnon replied: 3:32pm

Right, I should put that down on the blog. Its big (high up out of the water) but doesn't show much length at the surface

Scoott Mardis replied:

just a hump, if I remember. that last picture under the water like a crocodile, neither of us recognized.

Dale Drinnon replied 3:33pm

Right, that one is important, if for no other reason than the fact that a group of fliers at Loch Ness had made a similar report comparing it to a crocodile

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